CONNECTING OUR NEIGHBORHOODS
THE CITY OF EVANSTON’S SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY CHALLENGE PLANNING
GRANT PROPOSAL
Project Summary
The City of Evanston is applying for $2.5 million through the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Sustainable Community Challenge Planning
Grant program to advance and finalize the planning and development of Emerson
Square. A key piece of the West Evanston Master Plan, the development of Emerson
Square is a critical component of the West Evanston neighborhood stabilization project
that will reconnect a community divided by physical barriers and serve as a model
development for other communities in Illinois. This proposal enjoys strong support by
regional partners including Brinshore Development, LLC, Center for Neighborhood
Technology, Northwestern University, Chase Bank (local) and First Bank and Trust
(local).
In 2007, Evanston City Council formally approved the West Evanston Master Plan,
setting into motion concentrated planning efforts aimed at revitalizing a neighborhood
that has been divided by railroad right-of-ways, blighted industrial properties and has
recently been severely impacted by the ever growing problem of foreclosed or
abandoned homes resulting from the national mortgage crisis. The plan targets the
reuse of old railroad right-of-way and surrounding blighted industrial property to mend
the West Evanston neighborhoods. Reconnecting the urban grid, guiding the type of
private development that will achieve long term community goals by utilizing form-based
zoning codes and identifying specific parcels of land for redevelopment are key
elements that make up the West Evanston Master Plan. The centerpiece of this plan is
the Emerson Square project.
The Emerson Square project focuses on the redevelopment of four parcels of land
(totaling roughly 4.75 acres) that together comprise the largest and most blighted land
mass in West Evanston. This city block-sized parcel functions as a wall dividing the
neighborhood. Redeveloped, Emerson Square will provide over 80 units of affordable
housing, in a variety of housing styles from town homes to apartment buildings to six
flats in this area. The project also includes a new park, which will replace Gilbert Park,
a current site of significant criminal activity due its poor layout and design.
Emerson Square is the next step in the redevelopment of West Evanston following
HUD's award of $18.15 million to purchase, rehabilitate and reoccupy foreclosed and
abandoned properties and redevelop abandoned or vacant industrial sites into new
affordable housing through the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). A portion of
the City's NSP funding award will be joined with Low Income Housing Tax Credits
(LIHTC), Tax Increment Financing (TIF), Community Development Block Grant funding
(CDBG) and private financing for construction from Chase Bank as well as First Bank
and Trust to advance the project. Originally designed as a two phase project, a
Sustainable Communities Challenge Planning Grant award would enable the project to
move forward in a single phase to realize almost a $1.4 million total project cost savings
and leverage million of dollars more in private resources. In short Evanston's success
in securing funding through this grant would cut the total project cost in half. The
Emerson Square project will make substantial improvements to a neighborhood that has
not seen this level of new investment in decades, creating greater stabilization while
satisfying HUD and DOT's livability principles and core grant requirements.
PROJECT COSTS
Type
Source
TIF Funding*
City of Evanston
CDBG/HOME*
City of Evanston
Bond Volume Cap*
City of Evanston
Capital Improvement*
City of Evanston
State Trust Fund
State of Illinois
State HOME Funds
State of Illinois
State Donation Tax Credit
State of Illinois
Private Const/Perm Loans Citi
Community Capital
Deferred Fee
Brinshore Development
Park Development Donation
Brinshore Development
For-Sale Const. Revolving Loan Citi Community Capital
Low Income Housing Tax Credit Federal/State Government
NSP2 Grant HUD (Federal Government)
TOTAL Sources of Financing
TOTAL DEVELOPMENT COST
Remaining Gap
Total Requested
% of Total Development Cost 8.6%
*pending City Council approval
Amount
$1,700,000
$500,000
$2,802,184
$500,000
$1,600,000
$2,340,000
$1,470,000
$1,030,000
$600,000
$100,000
$750,000
$11,110,000
$1,785,000
$26,237,184
$28,832,184
$2,595,000
CCPG $2,500,000